MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Cole Custer started this season with 117 NASCAR Cup Collection begins below his belt, however for probably the most half he and the Haas Manufacturing unit Group have been beginning over.
Custer was returning to the Cup Collection after two full seasons again within the Xfinity Collection and the No. 41 workforce itself was making a brand new begin as a remnant of the shuttered multi-car Stewart-Haas Racing operation.
“It’s positively a reset. I consider us as a brand new workforce, so we now have to be sensible about how we attempt to go on the market and get stable finishes and attempt to maximize our days,” Custer stated throughout a media convention name on Wednesday. “Generally that’s not for a win, however it’s a matter of simply how we construct our pocket book and the way we transfer in the appropriate course is the largest factor. You don’t need to be tearing up automobiles if you’re attempting to construct a program and attempting to get issues higher. It’s important to be sensible about issues, however I feel it’s an ideal problem for us.
“I feel there’s lots of people that need to show some individuals mistaken and we need to go on the market and compete with one of the best of them. I really feel like we now have the instruments to do this, we simply must hold working and get our pocket book higher and higher. Hopefully, within the second half of this season we’re in a position to hit our stride a bit of bit.”
Custer stated the workforce received off to a sluggish begin and has been combating again all through the primary 16 races of the marketing campaign.
“I feel on the finish of the day the beginning of the season didn’t go how we began,” he defined. “We wished to be in a greater spot, however I really feel like we’ve been beginning to convey higher automobiles to the racetrack. The intermediates have positively been powerful on us, so, hopefully, because the yr goes we’re in a position to work higher and higher and get all the aero stuff found out for these tracks as a result of it’s simply so essential if you go there.
“I really feel like we’re shifting in the appropriate course, it’s only a matter of placing races collectively. I really feel just like the highway programs, the quick tracks, the superspeedways, all of these needs to be sturdy fits for our workforce. I feel we’re nonetheless engaged on the intermediate stuff, however I feel we’re rolling in the appropriate course.”
That ahead course included the primary top-10 end of the season final week in Mexico Metropolis, and eighth-place run.
“It was nice for our workforce having the ability to go there and get an eighth-place end, our first prime 10 of the yr. We simply had a stable automotive all day and good technique,” Custer stated. “I didn’t make any errors. The pit crew did properly and didn’t make any errors, so, general, it was only a actually stable day for us. Hopefully, on the midway level of the season we’re in a position to begin clicking off some good finishes and shifting in the appropriate course.”
